Boris Johnson blasts Nicola Sturgeon for focusing on Scottish Independence during Covid crisis

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Boris Johnson today warned that Nicola Sturgeon‘s drive to split the UK ‘has got to stop’, just days after he called Scottish devolution a ‘disaster’. 

In a speech during the Scottish Tory virtual conference, the PM said ‘frankly’ now is not the time for ‘division or distraction about our national constitution’.

He also blasted what he called the SNP‘s ‘abysmal record’ over 13 years of government, pointing to Scotland’s ‘plummeting education standards, low business confidence and the lowest satisfaction in public services ever’.

The barbed remarks come as Sturgeon attempts to exploit the chaos of the coronavirus pandemic to further her independence agenda.

The First Minister wants to use elections north of the border in May as a platform for forcing a fresh referendum as support for independence in Scotland grows.

Johnson is desperately engaged in damage limitation after he branded devolution a ‘disaster’ in a private Zoom meeting with MPs.

He had attacked Tony Blair for handing powers to Holyrood – comments which Sturgeon said showed that the PM wanted to claw back control to Westminster. 

Tories raged about Johnson’s ‘loose language’, with Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross suggesting they could split from the party in England.  

Johnson – who is currently self-isolating after a mask-less meeting with an MP who tested positive for coronavirus – today blamed the Press for his gaffe, insisting that his remarks had been reported ‘not entirely accurately’.

Instead, he said his ’round, unvarnished view’ was that ‘the way the SNP have handled devolution in Scotland has been a disaster’. 

He told the conference: ‘Just because I have criticised the performance of devolution does not mean I want to oppose devolution as a concept. I’m a former mayor of London, I know how effective devolved powers can be.’

But he argued: ‘The key is to have policies to show how devolution can work for Scotland, for the people in Scotland, rather than the SNP obsession with making devolution work against the rest of the UK.’

Johnson thanked Sturgeon and her government for the way they had worked together with UK ministers and politicians from the other devolved administrations during the pandemic – which he described as a ‘plague’.

But he also said that rival politicians in different parts of the UK needed to work in partnership ‘making use of the vaccine stocks, test kits and new technology that come from being part of what is one of the world’s leading scientific superpowers’.

Addressing supporters at the online conference, Johnson said: ‘Covid-19 doesn’t care about constitutional arrangements and whatever our political differences.

‘We all need to work together at this time to protect the health and jobs of the people of Scotland.’ Despite the ‘last very difficult eight months’, he added that there was now ‘hope on the horizon’.

And the PM was clear: ‘The best way to take that hope, and turn it into a better, brighter future we all want to see, is to continue to work together.’

He told his political rivals: ‘The cut and thrust of normal political debate will return in full when the threat of the virus has abated. And we all will welcome that, the clamour and vibrancy of a healthy democracy. 

‘But when we take up the political cudgels again, let’s never forget what we have achieved as a country through co-operation – through working across the whole of the United Kingdom to face down a deadly threat that respects no tier of government or boundaries.

‘We’ve never seen a challenge quite like this in our lifetimes, and there are real lessons to be learned.’ 

Johnson continued: ‘Just as we have come together to beat back, and we hope, and believe, soon defeat coronavirus, so we must stick together, and work together, to rebuild from its ravages.

‘Where we can differ over the constitutional issues, we also can, and I think we must, unite in our efforts to give Scotland that better, brighter future.’

Johnson said: ‘I am an optimist by nature. I believe that with continued and sustained effort we can defeat the coronavirus. 

‘That we can turn the page on this troubled chapter of our history. That we can build back better from it, from this plague. But I am also a realist.

‘I know that we can only achieve this if we resolve to work together for that better, brighter future we all want for Scotland and the whole of the Kingdom.’

SNP depute leader Keith Brown blasted Johnson’s speech, calling it ‘just 10 minutes of hollow nothingness beyond more weasel words of deflection’.

He responded: ‘This was a nothing speech that demonstrates exactly how much thought and consideration the Prime Minister really gives to Scotland. 

‘Zero effort, zero consideration, zero thought, just 10 minutes of hollow nothingness beyond more weasel words of deflection from his blunder in revealing he thinks devolution has been a disaster.

‘Instead he should have apologised for insulting the democratic choice of the people of Scotland and for the litany of toxic Tory policies, from austerity to a disastrous Brexit in the midst of a devastating pandemic.

‘Once again, untrustworthy Johnson has demonstrated the Tories don’t care about the needs of the people of Scotland. The only way to properly protect Scotland’s interests is to become an independent, European country.’   

Sturgeon was previously accused of ‘shamelessly’ exploiting the coronavirus crisis to ‘flog’ Scottish independence after she wrote an article for a German paper. 

In a piece for Germany’s Die Welt, the First Minister branded the UK’s tough line in Brexit trade talks ‘reckless’ and said she wanted Scotland to join the bloc if her campaign to split the union succeeds.

But critics lambasted the way Sturgeon was trying to ‘stir up division’ at a time of crisis, even though she previously promised to put her separatist ambitions on hold. 

In the piece, which coincided with an EU Council summit, Sturgeon wrote that Brexit is a ‘direct threat to jobs, investment and living standards’ in Scotland and said the lack of a trade deal will ‘cripple’ the food and drink industry.

She said: ‘The fact the UK Government seems determined to push ahead with exiting the transition period with no deal in place would be a foolish move in normal times.

‘In the middle of a global pandemic it is utterly reckless. 

‘That recklessness is exemplified by the UK Government’s proposed Internal Market Bill, which they admit would break international law and would renege on the Brexit treaty which Boris Johnson’s government agreed only last year. 

‘The Bill also seeks to take powers away from the Scottish parliament, and the legislatures in Northern Ireland and Wales.’

She said the UK Government approach is ‘entirely counter to the Scottish Government’s vision for our country’.

She added: ‘Scotland has also contributed much to Europe through our people, our worldclass universities, and now in particular the fight against climate change. 

‘The Scottish Government believes the best future for our country is as an independent nation within the EU.

‘Some people may question my stated desire for solidarity with the desire for independence. However, in reality, the two go hand in hand. It is precisely because we have a UK Government that is determined to turn its back on cooperation, consensus and solidarity that Scotland needs an alternative way forward. 

‘Unlike the EU, which is a partnership of equals where decisions require consent and often unanimity from members, the UK does not work like that and the wishes of Scotland can be ignored and overridden by Westminster.’

Labour MP Ian Murray, the Shadow Scottish Secretary, said: ‘This tells you everything about Nicola Sturgeon’s priorities. 

‘Scots will be shocked to see that while she tells the people of Scotland she is focused on the pandemic, she is writing about Scexit in an international newspaper and trying to stir up division.

‘How dare she talk about solidarity when she wants to tear apart the bonds of solidarity that exist within the UK?’ 

Scottish Conservative constitution spokesman Dean Lockhart said: ‘In the middle of a global pandemic, Scottish people will be downright furious that Nicola Sturgeon thinks it’s a good use of her time to shamelessly flog Scottish independence in Germany. This is a distraction when lives and livelihoods are on the line.

‘We all, including the First Minister, need to be focused 100 per cent on managing this crisis. The last thing that Scotland needs right now is the division and uncertainty of another independence referendum.’

Pamela Nash, chief executive of the Scotland in Union campaign group, said: ‘Nicola Sturgeon’s arguments are wrongheaded. 

‘She has no right to talk about ‘solidarity’ when her entire philosophy is about division. Instead of trying to break up the UK, the Scottish Government should be working within the UK to help lead us through this crisis.’